2024

Keep-It-Simple-Stupid

Last night, an intelligent handsome man told me a lot of great things - one is something I have been meaning to do for a long time: write out my goals. Except he said it better: pick one thing you want to do for 2024. At first, my mind started buzzing with the usual, "yeah, if I knew what I wanted that'd be a good place to start" and then he casually said "for example, I want to learn to be better at MMA." At first, I'll admit, I thought "really? out of ALL the things to improve that's what your focus is?" ... then, this morning after reflecting on it more, I realize he provided me the push I needed to get un-stuck. Without even meaning to, he reminded me of the mantra I really should get tattooed to my hand: KISS --> Keep it simple, stupid.

With SO many things in life to focus on, I've been very aware that I struggle with focusing on seeing any given task through - or even worse, getting started at all. I get bored easily, my mind wanders places it shouldn't (no matter how many times I read books about controlling my thoughts, but it's a work in progress) which leads to me wanting to just disassociate from reality and read a book on my kindle locked away from the world. Yes, it is a step up from seeking out drugs, and I need to be better at giving myself credit for that (amongst other things), but for now: c'est la vie/que sera sera/pick the cliche, but I just gotta let that go.

Lists on Lists

Per usual, I have a few notes floating around with things I want to write about here, and this time I took it another step. While thinking about this whole 'write out what I want from 2024' the simple answer came to me: be better at training dogs. After that, the flood of thoughts came... to the point where I didn't even want to take the time to get my laptop and type this yet, I just wanted them ALL out of my head. No extra thoughts, no editing, just a 'livestream' of all the mayhem that comes with thinking about goals. For once I think I did a decent job of sticking to simple things and staying on target. Instead of getting too bogged down by the endless list of potential categories (financial, social, mental, physical, etc.) or how specific/not specific each should be, I just ... wrote. I can't decide if I want to take a picture of it and upload it here or re-type it... I guess re-typing it would be another way of re-affirming it in my mind, and I'm already thinking of more I want to add (see, this is why I start so many things and finish so few: there's just SO MUCH, so many options, so many possibilities, that I let the panic of indecision overwhelm me instead of just breathing through the panic and taking life one step at a time).

Without further ado, my 2024 "list" - not goals, because those are meant to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), not a 'to-do' list because as I read on in one of those Headway app summaries yesterday turning anything into work is a surefire way to lose motivation (and proposed an interesting theory: approach each goal as if you've already failed so that your brain is constantly working through potential problems while working towards the goal so that you don't fail ... although that goes completely against manifestation and I've barely mastered that, so how about I try walking before running) - it's just a list of thoughts I had when I considered what I wanted from myself in 2024.

THE LIST

...why won't this row delete without the whole list becoming a title? I do not know. Whatever.
- Find a place to call home: without an HOA and with a fenced in yard.
- Be better at dog training.
- Make ProPet Content a "success" (here, I did fall into the rabbit-hole of 'but what's success look like to me?' so the list got 4 indented bullets deep REAL quick):
- Officially partner with the Charleston Animal Society
- Make back my initial investment in the Pet Creator Academy (At least I'm 25% of the way there ... $4k, I gotta say, the guy who's coming up with all this is either a conman or a genius, and I'm leaning towards conman)
- Optimize the process of creating:
- UGC
- 'Trendy TikTok Style Videos'
- Efficient prospect/lead management (snovio)
- a CRM system (ideally within snovio)
- Contracts (with OUR requirements: i.e. using google drive)
- The entire payment system within Stripe
- Invoices
- Payment Links
- Bank Account separation for LLC/taxes (OH GOD, do my 2022 and 2023 taxes!?)

Right after writing the dog training one, I had skipped halfway down the page and written: "BE AUTHENTIC" ...amen. That's definitely number 1, forever and always. But have no fear future-self, the list doesn't stop there:

• (oh NOW you want to make bullets automatically? gee, thanks ghostpro)
• Find what gets me into a 'flow state' without it requiring a ton of motivation
• An old favorite... cultivate healthy habits:
  • Yoga
  • Meditation
  • Headway or other reading (not the fiction on my kindle, that doesn't count)
  • Eating
  • Vitamins and supplements
  • Cardio (maybe this will counteract the fact I refuse to think too long on why 'quit vaping' isn't on this list)
  • Squats!

Then just a good old favorite cliche ending the page: "back to basics"

... I'll upload a picture of this list to keep myself honest. OH, I wanted to add join Amanda's writing group, because as I finished this earlier I remembered all the lists I mentioned earlier about topics I want to write about to get out of my head, and I know a writing group would help enforce some accountability with writing here.

But right now, I don't have time, because I have to go with Dutch to Hooter's before it's dark and too late to capture videos of Looch in his harness with the waitresses cooing over how cute he is - sex sells, that's a cliche that'll always be true, right? For ProPet Content's sake, I certainly hope so.

Adios for now, future self - xoxo, January 2024 Sammi

P.S. Later update this with an image and the picture of the list!